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In response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request asking for disclosure of letters sent from Baroness Scotland in July 2006 to members of the US Senate Foreign Affairs Committee about the UK/US Extradition Act, the letters were today disclosed to the correspondent and are being placed on the Home Office website.

These letters are evidence of the successful efforts made by UK Government Ministers to persuade the US Government to ratify the UK/US extradition treaty.

The UK/US extradition treaty was signed in 2003, but US ratification was protracted. Home Office Ministers and officials were in regular contact with the US Government to ensure this was kept high on the agenda, and these letters were sent by Baroness Scotland, then a Home Office Minister, to members of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee in July 2006.

Instruments of ratification were exchanged between the UK and US in April 2007 when the extradition treaty became operative.